Dear reading companions of the steep trails, from one corner to the other of this land of Hāmākua kihi loa, great aloha to us all. The wet season of Hoʻoilo has arrived in our beloved homelands of Hāmākua, and the famous piko of our ʻāina has been covered with the cold snow blanket of Poliahu, the woman who resides in the cold of Mauna a Wākea. There has also been a great amount of rain here in Hāmākua lately. The Pupūhale rain has surrounded the houses of the kula lands. The Kīhenelehua rain has brought out the bundles of lehua blossoms of the uplands. And the Kūnihi rain has moved carefully across the sky out at sea. The ʻāina thrives, as do we, the kalo kanu o ka ʻāina, with the life-giving waters of Kāne! Thus, dear reading companions, let us continue following the pathway of Maui’s famous chief, Kihaapiʻilani, as he begins his preparations to revolt against his older brother.

Kihaapiʻilani returned to the uplands of Kalaniwai, and planted all the lau ʻuala (sweet potato cuttings) in the bundle he had gathered. He cultivated that māla ʻuala (ʻuala patch) until it had matured, and then he said to his wahine, “Let us go and see the māla ʻuala.” His wahine responded, “You have a māla ʻuala?!” He nodded, yes. His wahine, however, did not think that it was a real māla ʻuala, because she knew that he had only been gone for a short time. Most of the time he spent inside of the house.

When they went to see the māla ʻuala, his wahine saw that it was indeed a large māla ʻuala, and she shouted out. The māla was so big that you couldn’t see from one end of it to the other. The ʻuala had fully matured, so Kihaapiʻilani dug them up. They then returned to the house, and the parents of his wahine saw that they were returning with bundles of ʻuala. His wahine’s parents then said to themselves, “Where are those ʻuala from that they went and begged for? How shameful! All he does is sit around lazily, and then he goes and begs for someone else’s food. With shoulders as big as his, he should perhaps try to do some farming of his own!” Their daughter arrived before them, and Kihaapiʻilani went over to tend to the imu and uncovered the stones.

The parents of that young woman then asked her, “Where are those ʻuala from that you two went and begged for?” Responding boastfully, their daughter said, “Where are yours from?! He insisted that we go and look at his māla ʻuala, and that is what we did. There is no other māla ʻuala so large! You cannot see from one end to the other. It is so big that it as if one kaʻau, or forty, people had created it.” Hearing the words of their daughter and feeling them in their naʻau, the parents of Kihaapiʻilani’s wahine were pleased.

With that, her parents were pleasant towards their daughter’s kāne for the first time. No more did they turn their bodies away from him. No more did they look at him with anger. No more did they speak rude and sarcastic words to him. They dropped their voices below that of their daughter’s kāne. On that day, these parents of Kihaapiʻilani’s wahine went to look for themselves. As they went along, they came to see that it was just as their daughter had said. They thought that it was someone else who had done all the work that their daughter spoke of, so they went and asked all the kamaʻāina of the area. All of the kamaʻāina that they asked told them that it was not they who had cultivated the soil and farmed there. The kamaʻāina all said the same thing to them: “That māla ʻuala was created by the kāne of your daughter.” And with those words, they began to feel ashamed for all of the hurtful words that they had spoken about Kihaapiʻilani. It was the two of them who gave Kihaapiʻilani the nickname, “Kenuipoʻohiwi” (Big shoulders), because of how big his shoulders and hands were, and yet, in their minds, he seemed to only sit around lazily. It is for this reason that they called him Kenuipoʻohiwi, and that is the name by which he was commonly called in that area where they were living. That nickname was carried on, and it eventually became something that he found flattering.

The parents of Kihaapiʻilani’s wahine then returned to their house where Kihaapiʻilani was opening the imu with all the ʻuala inside. The food was cooked, and they all ate of the ʻuala until they were satisfied. It was then that those parents of Kihaapiʻilani’s wahine became silent, thinking that, indeed, they would be well cared for in their old age by their daughter’s kāne, because of his skill in farming.

When the darkness of night came upon them, they prepared to go to sleep. While Kihaapiʻilani was laying down in their sleeping area with his wahine, he said to her, “I am going to go off and leave you. I have cultivated our food, and now it is matured. It is now you who will eat of the fruits of our labor.” His wahine then responded, “You are leaving for good, with no return?” Her kāne nodded, yes. She urged him not to go with words of love and affection, but his mind was set on going. He said to her, “I am going to go until one kau (dry season) and one hoʻoilo (wet season) has passed. If you have thoughts of love for me, then remain without another kāne until I return. If, however, you choose to be with another man, then so it shall be, pono.”

There was no break in her efforts to get him to stay. Kihaapiʻilani thought to himself that there was nothing that would stop his wahine from trying to prevent him from leaving. So he decided to tell her something that would put an end to her idea of him staying. “My dear wahine, I am telling you now, do not tell anyone my name. I am Kihaapiʻilani, and I am going off to seek someone who will betray my older brother, Lonoapiʻi, who is also known as Piʻilani.” It was then that Kihaapiʻilani’s wahine understood that he, indeed, was an Aliʻi nui, and so she released him to go.

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About the story...

"He Moolelo no Umi" is one of the earliest known published versions of the story of ʻUmi-a-Liloa, the great chief of Hāmākua, Hawaiʻi. The version of this story that is republished and translated here was first published by Simeon Keliikaapuni and J. H. Z. Kalunaaina in 1862, in the Hawaiian language newspaper called Ka Nupepa Kuokoa. After Keliikaapuni & Kalunaaina published "He Moolelo no Umi," similar versions of this important moʻolelo were published and republished in newspapers by a number of others throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Our kūpuna clearly valued this moʻolelo and the lessons it imbued upon each generation who learned it. We, in the same spirit that inspired our kūpuna to retell this moʻolelo, represent it here, in both its original language and in english, so that our generation and the many generations to come may derive knowledge from the important lessons held within this moʻolelo. And so that we, kamaʻāina of Hāmākua, may find pride in the deep cultural heritage and history of our beloved homelands, the birthplace of this great chief, ʻUmi-a-Līloa.

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